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Catalyst News
October
2007
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Catalyst News and Views from AnnA
October 5th, 2007
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Ready to get those creative juices and life force flowing?
To help you I have focused this newsletter around a great
line from a poem that I hope will inspire you, it has
certainly done so for me and I have based this issue's
coffee break exercise around it.
As the poet Mary Oliver says, "What is it you plan to
do with your one wild and precious life?" I hope I can
help you find some answers today.
To your continuing growth and creativity - AnnA
IN THIS ISSUE:
- The world's best writing tutor?
- National Novel Writing Month
- Personal Development Coffee Break
THE WORLD'S BEST WRITING TUTOR?
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If living that 'wild and precious life' means developing
your creativity, there are some people who can just pull
out the best of you - no matter what your creative
discipline is. Eric Maisel for me is that person. If you
could design the perfect, supportive, inspiring and caring
creativity tutor it would be Eric Maisel. His background as
a psychotherapist gives him great insight into how people
hold themselves back, and his own career as a writer
inspires him to know exactly how to help other creatives."
If you visit www.amazon.co.uk you will find his books
there on a whole range of subjects from the best ways to
support your creativity, face your demons, deal with
creative depression, or perhaps you need help with
performance anxiety if you are a speaker of performer?
Whatever the area I know he can help as I trained as a
creativity coach with him and used his techniques with my
clients. I have all of his books, the two most valuable
for me being the Van Gogh Blues and the book on Toxic
Criticism. Sometimes it's people trying to be helpful that
can be the most damaging because in their 'support' is an
element of jealousy or a desire to prevent you being hurt
or making a fool of yourself. To live life to the full, you
are always going to do both those things, and the 'trick' is
to learn how to go through them, not keep trying to avoid or
go around them. If you would like to know more about his
work, visit the website at http://www.ericmaisel.com/
NATIONAL NOVEL WRITING MONTH
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November sees the annual rate of hair tearing out and
chocolate biscuit consumption rising to astronomical
amounts as we greet once again the start of National Novel
Writing Month. Is this the year you are going to write your
novel, or even make a start? Can I encourage you by urging
you to go to the website at www.nanowrimo.org/ before
October 31st so you can sign up and for free join an
international online community of others all with the same
goal: to write a 50,000-word novel by midnight November 30.
That's it, no tricks just a very focused month where you
aim to write - not revise, edit or criticise, because
frankly you haven't got the time. All you have to do is
hack it out and get it done by the deadline. Over 80,000
people joined in last time, and this year they are going
for 100,000 and one of them could be you! You are not
writing in a vacuum either, you get ongoing encouragement
from 8 top authors' online pep talks. Last year crime
writer Sue Grafton was onboard and this year Tom Robbins
and Neil Gaiman have stepped up to offer some help.
What are you waiting for? Just be sure to sign up before
the deadline at www.nanowrimo.org
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT COFFEE BREAK
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"What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious
life?" The Campaign for Learning's findings from its
Childhood Dream Job Competition revealed that only 10% of
the entrants took up their childhood dream jobs, but 62%
of people said that, given the time again' they would follow
that dream career path.
Now that is a lot of unfulfilled people, and if we extend
that to ask if you are living your one wild and precious
life in the way you truly want to, what would be your honest
answer? Let's imagine you are going to make a shopping list
for that life, what would be on it? First list the items,
then take one or two of them and expand them with a detailed
description of what it would look like. For instance your
list might have:
- perfect health
- new house
- visit Tibet
- Travel round the world in a motorhome
- and.......
Then if you took perfect health you might write about what
it would mean to have it and what kind of difference that
would make to your life. Would it mean you took up a new
sport or could sleep 8 hours a night and not feel tired in
the morning. If you wrote about a new house, then describe
where it would be, what country and where, how would it
look. Furnish it in your mind room by room, and don't'
forget the garden if it has one! If you want to continue
with this tool you would then take each item and start to
make small actions that might move you towards that life.
For instance, you could find out all about the area you
want to live, get brochures, take a holiday there, visit
garden centres and plan your new garden by writing down
all the things you want to put in it and how they would
grow there.
It's your wild and perfect life so how could you start
living it now?
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To find out more about AnnA's work, or to contact her,
visit her website: www.catalystonline.co.uk
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Catalyst News and Views from AnnA
October 19th, 2007
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How did that quote from Mary Oliver impact you in the last
issue? It's interesting how such a short phrase can affect
people in so many different ways. "What is it you plan to
do with your one wild and precious life?" challenges us on
so many levels. Do you believe your life is precious or
something to be got through? How 'wild' do you want it to be
and just what does that mean anyway? Wild for me conjures up
an image of a rough, dark sea and that can be frightening,
challenging, and exhilarating all at the same time.
Not to challenge yourself is to say no to growth, so try
each day to take on one small challenge and see where it
takes you - I have put a couple into this newsletter, just to
start you off! To your continuing growth and creativity - AnnA
IN THIS ISSUE:
- National Novel Writing Month
- Computer User? Top 7 Tips for Comfort
- Writing Your Life Story new ecourse
HELP WITH WRITING YOUR NOVEL
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No it's not a mistake, I haven't repeated last newsletter's
item by mistake on the novel writing competition! What has
been interesting has been the response, a large part of which
has centred around 'it can't be done' and as that isn't a
helpful way to approach it can I offer a suggestion? It
doesn't have to be perfect!!!! In fact it can't be because
you can't write that amount to completed perfection in the
time so give that one up. What you really have to give up is
the desire to tweak and rewrite it so it is 'better'.
What you actually have to do is just sit down and write
your daily quota with no interference - raw material,
mistakes and all. I know this can be difficult, but believe
me your writing will flow much more easily when you haven't
got that critic sitting on your shoulder pointing out how
flawed it is. You have all of the rest of your life to
polish it, though I hope you choose to do it in a shorter
timeframe than that! It is so ingrained in us to 'get it
right' but I had much rather that you 'got it written'
instead. If you need a hand, then there are a couple of
useful writing aids that might help. English writer Nick
Daws has devised a simple plan that he promises will get you
writing any book in 28 days - now that sounds like the right
time frame doesn't it? I have used it myself and it is so
straightforward it is embarrassing, so take a look at his
website for more details, just click on http://www.writequickly.com/?afl=20968
With your membership of catalyst news you got my free
report on how to overcome writer's block, but if you
feel you still have a way to go then Nick also has made
a subliminal CD to work on that stubborn unconscious of yours
- you know you have one right? If struggling with being blocked
is getting tedious, then click on
http://www.writers-block-cd.com/?afl=20968 for more information.
Now are you ready to commit to your creativity and be a novelist
for a month?
Go to the website at http://www.nanowrimo.org BEFORE October
31st
and I look forward to hearing about your progress.
COMPUTER USER? TOP 7 TIPS FOR COMFORT
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Today many people spend a large proportion of their day at a
computer, and it can be hard on your health so there are some
simple tips that can help. It applies particularly writers as
once we get in the flow we are reluctant to stop and it is
that single-minded staying power that can be part of the
problem. However brilliantly you are writing, it will help
if you get up from the keyboard at least once an hour and
so some simple stretches, particularly those that open up
the chest area as you are more than likely hunched over
in concentration, aren't you? Open your arms wide at shoulder
height and stretch out your fingers and then try to extend
your arms out even further, gently does it, no forcing, but
just that one simple act repeated a couple of times will
make all the difference.
The other problem area can be your eyes, as staring
continuously at a monitor can bring it's own difficulties.
As I am a touch typist who can hit the keyboard with my eyes
shut, I believed myself to be immune to this, but of course
you keep checking to see what you have written and it's
estimated that around 50 percent of people experience some
form of eye strain such as headaches, blurred vision, eye
fatigue, dry or burning eyes and hypersensitivity to light.
What can you do about it? Well here are my top 7 tips
that you could try:
1 Start by taking a break from looking at your monitor
every 20-30 minutes and switch your gaze to something distant.
Look out of the window, or across the room and spend a minute
or two looking far away into the distance. The goal is to
look at distant objects without staring because this helps
the six muscles that control each of your eyes to relax and
receive a rich flow of blood.
2 Get rid of any glare from sunlight or indoor lighting
because this also a significant source of eyestrain. Check
that your monitor does not have direct light on it, and
adjust your curtains or blinds to minimize any light spill.
3 Take a break and do the 'cupping' exercise where you
sit with your elbows on the desk or table and cover your
eyes with your palms. Just rest in that darkness for a minute
or two and that will help rest your eyes as well as giving you
quiet time to reflect in.
4 Is your monitor in the right position so your neck is
comfortable and your eyes can comfortably see the entire
screen? For most people, the best place is approximately
24 inches away from the eyes with the top of the screen at
eye level.
5 Don't strain your eyes to see the screen. When typing
use the largest font size that is comfortable for you to see.
I often edit clients work at a size 14 or 16 font, and then
when it's finished I just select the whole document and
change the font back to the more normal 10 or 12 point.
Remember, the bigger the font, the less your eyes need to
strain to see the words.
6 If you wear glasses, try to use lenses that have an
anti-glare coating on them as that will reduce any light
reflection that can be hard on the eyes.
7 If you do find yourself staring at your monitor for
any reason, usually because the mind has gone wandering -
hopefully on a creative detour - then just blink a few times.
Doing this is like having an eye bath because blinking coats
the surface of your eyes with tears, and that keeps them
moist and protects against dust.
WRITING YOUR LIFE STORY
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"What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious
life?" Well one thing you could do is write it down. I am a
great believer in writing a life story just for you, for your
family and those in years to come who are going to wonder
about who that person is in the photo album and what they did.
As someone who lost most of my family at an early age, it has
been constantly frustrating to try and find out more than the
bare facts that can be got from a birth or death certificate.
They won't tell me for instance that my mother's sister
was addicted to a dessert called a Knickerbocker glory and
on the annual holiday she spent with us we would go every day
to a café where for the vast sum of half a crown (12.5p in
today's money) = well it was a lot of money in the 1950's =
she spent the most pleasurable part of her day.
Looking at my smiling photo on my web page doesn't tell
you that among the things I have done are the wildly
differing driving a tank and singing back up for Bryan
Ferry, or that I got pneumonia after a particularly long
sweat lodge and icy river retreat in North Wales. None of my
godchildren know about it, or would probably
believe it - and that is the point. It is about leaving
a memento behind and you do not need to be a great writer
to do that, you just need to want to pass on your experiences
and wisdom and show that at some time life sucks for everybody.
I have just created a simple 6 week course to show you
exactly how to write your life story, your way, and you do
it from your own home, in your own time. I will send you by
email each week the next step to lead you on, and am always
available for support and encouragement by email.
If you are interested, write to me at anna@creativecatalyst.co.uk
and I will send you more details.
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To find out more about AnnA's work, or to contact her,
visit her website: www.catalystonline.co.uk
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